Troubleshooting vBulletin Problems Discuss Thinking about switching to vB in the vBulletinSetup Information forums; I've used phpBB for a year, then switched to SMF and I've really enjoyed it for a free forum software. I'll be getting enough money to "potentially" buy a vB ...

I've used phpBB for a year, then switched to SMF and I've really enjoyed it for a free forum software.

I'll be getting enough money to "potentially" buy a vB license next week, but I need a few questions answered, and I need to think about it first.

Positives of Switching:
+Most Recognized software (most users aren't familiar with SMF and its layout)
+Great Support (From what I've heard)

Negatives I can see:
-Cost
-Making sure everything goes well in transfer
-I noticed even modifications cost money



So my questions are:

Is there a conversion software that can convert SMF easily and bring over my members, posts, and all those things?

Are there free Modifications? And is there a package manager (or something that comes with vB that installs modifications like the smf one)

I've also heard that it is really tedious and hard to update, is this true or no?

I am not good at coding AT ALL, so that makes it a bit difficult for me with some things, but I usually get around it.

I'll probably have more questions when I think of more things, but I'm really considering switching, mainly because of the first positive I've mentioned.


Thanks in advance to any replies.

There are tons of free modifications out there. In fact, the vast majority are free.

Is there a conversion software that can convert SMF easily and bring over my members, posts, and all those things?

IMPEX is the only way to convert forums. Many have gone from SMF so I don't think you will have a problem. I am pretty sure your passwords will need to be reset as SMF use encryption.

Are there free Modifications? And is there a package manager (or something that comes with vB that installs modifications like the smf one)

vBulletin.org - The Official vBulletin Resource! is full of free modifications. In reality the paid modifications make up about 1% of the total mods for vbulletin if I had to make a good guess.

I've also heard that it is really tedious and hard to update, is this true or no?

It's very simple to update since the Product system has been implemented.

Alright, I'm gonna buy a license Monday.

I'll do a few test runs with impEx and see how it works so I have less of a chance of messing it up.

Let us know how it goes. Look forward to seeing your site take off with vBulletin

I just switched one of my forums from SMF to vB in December. It was the only non vB one I had, and like you said for freeware... was good. Personally I HATE impex,as I had huge issues with it in a previous import, but it went smooth with the SMF to vB.
The only things I noticed that were annoying, but easily fixable... were
1. birthdays.. for whatever reason all the birthdays changed to nothing in the import, which I did not notice till after the board went live. Due to this .. probably I dunno.. every or close to every .. member was fooked and had to reset their options, change passwords etc just to post again.
2. Permissions were borked bad, again easily fixable.. My admins were in a banned usergroup and the members were not.. was kinda funny to see.
3. All the forums defauted to being viewed in decending order by thread title.. which is beyond confusing, but again easily fixed..

In all converting was not an issue, just little annoyances, that are easily outweighed by the benefits of vB.

Good luck with the import.

Thanks for the info Liz. I'll be looking out for that stuff.

I have a few more questions. I just bought my vB license (geting processed now) and I want to do a few test runs, but can I install more than 1 vB? I want to set up a test forum to do a few impex test runs but is that possible since you have to buy each copy. I'm not sure how it works at all?

Also, how were you able to get into the board if you're admin usergroup was banned. I'd like to know so if I have the same problem.

I can answer one of those questions. You can install as many boards as you want, as long as it is on the domain name you registered it for.

Originally Posted by Nater

I can answer one of those questions. You can install as many boards as you want, as long as it is on the domain name you registered it for.

but only one of them can be public. The rest have to be password protected.

installing my first ever vB board now. Got my fingers crossed.

Have fun

soooo don't keep us in suspense

How did it go?????

Well i did a impex install.

My admins were banned as well but I fixed that no problem. I have to make sure that regular members can get their passwords changed but no one is online to use as a guinea pig as of right now.

Also, my member list only shows me and my other admin (who also has logged in). Did yours do this liz?

Wow this is hell. Not only were my administrators banned, every single member was. And I can't find for the life of me where I can just unban everyone at once instead of clicking 'lift ban' for every member.

[mike]

I would ask at vbulletin.com. There may be a query you can run that will do this.

Originally Posted by Mike

I would ask at vbulletin.com. There may be a query you can run that will do this.

Yea I am sure there is a query for it.

I posted this on vbulletin.com but didn't get any answers all day, not sure if someone here might know the answer to this:


My main concern is I want my vB to be in the root directory of my site, which is where my SMF is now. Do I treat the import the same exact way as i did on this test run that i did to /vbtest/ folder just to the root directory? And if I do, do i delete all my smf files in my ftp before hand so things don't "clash"?

I didn't see an explanation for how to do that in the impex guide online, but I could have missed it.

Thanks in advance for any and all help

go to usergroups and look at registered users, read each option.. im 99% sure the usergroup will have it selected to be a banned usergroup. That should fix it...


admincp
usergroups
usergroup manager
registered
edit usergroup (go)
scroll down to Usergroup Options
last option is

This Usergroup is not a 'Banned' Group (Setting this to no will cause the group to be treated as a banned group, this will prevent the sending of email notifications, show a banned error message on the permission error pages and other unspecified behaviours.)

make sure that says YES

Im trying hard to come back n forth but have my kids home for 4 days as well, so if you need a hand just er email ( liz at 67-72chevytrucks dot com), or pm I see those quicker for whatever my lame reason is

Boards up and running (I have it turned off until I get it all set up).

One thing I can't find to change is where i can have the forum show all posts, and not remove the ones over 30 days old from the viewforum and things.

thats in forum manager, i think the main tab is called forums and moderators. then forum manager. There is a choice in there, under edit forums, on how each forum is shown default. (30 days, begining etc)

Originally Posted by liz

thats in forum manager, i think the main tab is called forums and moderators. then forum manager. There is a choice in there, under edit forums, on how each forum is shown default. (30 days, begining etc)

Thanks alot, looked everywhere in the "vBulletin options" area figuring it would be there :o

Another question...
When anyone posts, all I see is the text box, no smilies next to it, and no bbcode buttons above either. How do I go about adding those in there:confused:

the option for smilies and bb code on is somewhere (nfc offhand) in vb options. The bb code can be checked to be on, and smilies you can define how many show.

I figured out what that is. It's defaulting at a "basic textbox" for every user, instead of the Enhanced Interface - Full WYSIWYG controls.

Anyone know where to reset that to show the Enhanced interface as the default for all users.